REDHAT-BUG-2457008: High severity Wasmtime Wasmtime vulnerability

Published Apr 9, 2026
·
Updated

Wasmtime is a runtime for WebAssembly. From 32.0.0 to before 36.0.7, 42.0.2, and 43.0.1, Wasmtime's Cranelift compilation backend contains a bug on aarch64 when performing a certain shape of heap accesses which means that the wrong address is accessed. When combined with explicit bounds checks a guest WebAssembly module this can create a situation where there are two diverging computations for the same address: one for the address to bounds-check and one for the address to load. This difference in address being operated on means that a guest module can pass a bounds check but then load a different address. Combined together this enables an arbitrary read/write primitive for guest WebAssembly when accesssing host memory. This is a sandbox escape as guests are able to read/write arbitrary host memory. This vulnerability has a few ingredients, all of which must be met, for this situation to occur and bypass the sandbox restrictions. This miscompiled shape of load only occurs on 64-bit WebAssembly linear memories, or when Config::wasmmemory64 is enabled. 32-bit WebAssembly is not affected. Spectre mitigations or signals-based-traps must be disabled. When spectre mitigations are enabled then the offending shape of load is not generated. When signals-based-traps are disabled then spectre mitigations are also automatically disabled. The specific bug in Cranelift is a miscompile of a load of the shape load(iadd(base, ishl(index, amt))) where amt is a constant. The amt value is masked incorrectly to test if it's a certain value, and this incorrect mask means that Cranelift can pattern-match this lowering rule during instruction selection erroneously, diverging from WebAssembly's and Cranelift's semantics. This incorrect lowering would, for example, load an address much further away than intended as the correct address's computation would have wrapped around to a smaller value insetad. This vulnerability is fixed in 36.0.7, 42.0.2, and 43.0.1.

Affected Software

2 affected components
Wasmtime Wasmtime>32.0.0<36.0.7
Wasmtime Wasmtime=42.0.2, =43.0.1

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade wasmtime to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 36.0.7
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade wasmtime to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 42.0.2
  3. Upgrade

    Upgrade wasmtime to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 43.0.1
  4. Configuration

    Enable Spectre mitigations (and ensure signals-based-traps are enabled as well). The vulnerability requires disabling Spectre mitigations/signals-based-traps; when Spectre mitigations are enabled, the offending Cranelift lowering pattern (load(iadd(base, ishl(index, amt))) with constant amt on aarch64) is not generated.

    Wasmtime spectre mitigations / signals-based-traps = enabled

Event History

Apr 9, 2026
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·07:02 PM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software
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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of REDHAT-BUG-2457008?

The severity of REDHAT-BUG-2457008 is classified as high, with a rating of 7.

2

What is the impact of REDHAT-BUG-2457008?

REDHAT-BUG-2457008 affects the correctness of memory access in Wasmtime, potentially leading to accessing incorrect addresses and causing various application issues.

3

How do I fix REDHAT-BUG-2457008?

To fix REDHAT-BUG-2457008, it is recommended to upgrade Wasmtime to version 36.0.7 or later, or to 42.0.2 or later, or to 43.0.1 or later.

4

Which versions of Wasmtime are affected by REDHAT-BUG-2457008?

Wasmtime versions from 32.0.0 to before 36.0.7, 42.0.2, and 43.0.1 are affected by REDHAT-BUG-2457008.

5

What should I do if I cannot upgrade to resolve REDHAT-BUG-2457008?

If upgrading is not possible, consider implementing code reviews and additional checks to isolate and mitigate the issues caused by REDHAT-BUG-2457008.

Contact

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